Somebody Stranger
by angelfishlex
Summary: My first comic book one-shot. This is Shellie's perspective of when Jackie Boy intrudes upon her apartment and her new relationship with Dwight, also my favorite scene in the movie, & I have not read the comics. Enjoy!


**Okay, this is a story that nearly killed me by writing it, so I hope everyone likes it. I studied this scene from 'Sin City' line by line of dialogue. I have also become a recent Brittany Murphy fan and this is a tribute to her 'Sin City' character, Shellie. **

_Shellie's POV:_

I knew he was there the second I heard my apartment door being banged against the bolted inside lock.

Jack 'Jackie Boy' Rafferty, my ex-boyfriend…

Standing there defiantly, I shouted on the safe side of my door to my surprise intruder.

"Forget it, man. You can bang on that door all night if you want to. There is no way in hell I'm letting you in."

A small, satisfied smirk crossed my face as I felt a rare sensation of triumph at talking back to him.

_I don't take orders from anyone who's hurt me…_

His gruff voice sounded like he was struggling to be calm and reasoning with me, but I could hear the anger deep beneath his "gentle" façade.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me, Shellie. Everything we shared, it must mean something to you."

I let out a sarcastic chuckle at his assumption of our "loving" relationship.

"It meant plenty on account of how nobody wants to flirt with a waitress whose face is all purple and swollen up with bruises."

Jackie Boy responded in his deep voice from the other side of my door.

"I know you're angry, baby, and I forgive you for that without you even asking me to."

My head turned sharply toward the door, whipping long, blonde strands of hair around my face.

"There's a difference between getting honked off and a guy who's generally not so bad. And finding out you've been sweet-talked by a total jerk loser who skips out on a wife that he doesn't even tell you about every time he gets drunk which is way too often."

Anger boiled inside me as I continued my rant about our unhealthy history together.

All the lies, betrayal and anguish…

"Especially the kind of total jerk loser who has to beat up on a girl to make himself feel like a man."

Surprisingly, he stopped beating at the door, but I knew Jackie Boy was still there…waiting for me. "That hurt, Shellie. Its one thing for you to play hard to get, but don't go trying to cut my nuts off."

"I am _impossible_ to get." My confidence slowly faded to fear as I backed away from the door. "Do yourself a favor, Jackie Boy, and get help, like a shrink. Get help and…and get lost."

The sound of footsteps behind me sent a subtle feeling of security to the room, but Jack remained at my doorstep. _Shit._

"Just open the door." His voice became a menacing growl, sending a chill down my spine.

"Go ahead and open the door, Shellie." The man whose footsteps I heard now stood behind me as I turned to face him.

Dwight, my new lover, a killer with a new face…

He held his gaze to the door, standing before me, shirtless as I rubbed my fingers against his bare chest. Then, I heard Jack's voice from the apartment building hallway.

"Just open the door and you'll see how wrong you were about me." My fear grew stronger as I sensed the impending violence raging inside Jack at my refusal to heed him.

"Oblige him, Shellie. I'm ready for him." Dwight continued to stare blankly ahead of him.

I shook my head hastily at his command. "No, if he knew you were here with me, you don't know how bad this can get." A sob threatened to escape me, but I forced it down.

"This clown's got a big, mean drunk-on. And he's got four friends in the hall breathing hard and as drunk as he is." Dwight explained to me in his softly rough voice.

"I could've sworn I heard somebody in there with you just now." Jackie Boy purred in his slurred tone.

Hastily, I raised my fingers to Dwight's lips, attempting to prevent him from talking any further.

"Somebody? Jackie Boy, it's a regular African love fest in here. I got half of the Basin City Blues keeping me company. You feel like taking them on?" I turned my head to see Dwight walking back to the bedroom.

"You are teasing me, baby, but you're really pushing my buttons. The whole time you've been doing me like this, I've been too polite to point out that at any time I want to, I can kick this damn door down to splinters."

My eyes widened in fright as the peril hit me, causing my heart to painfully crash in my ribcage. I heard the door being pushed against once more.

"Okay, baby, you know what I can do. One, two…"

"All right! All right!" I screamed, raising my hands in surrender. Feeling helpless for the first time in years, I unlocked that godforsaken door and opened it.

Jackie Boy, followed by his four sleazy comrades, strode drunkenly into my apartment. After the last guy entered, I closed the door, leaning against it.

"You brought your whole pack with you? None of these bozos got lives, they gotta hang out with you?"

"You're gonna love this, baby. You're gonna call up some of your friends from the saloon. With you and the bunch of us, we're gonna hit every joint in town. Its gonna be great."

I felt like vomiting at the thought of giving myself to any of these jackasses, and I immediately talked back to my ex-flame. "I ain't calling up nobody."

Jackie Boy came closer to me, leaning against the same wall I was at, his nasty face inches from mine. He gazed down at the white shirt I wore unbuttoned, revealing my black bra and panties. "That's a man's shirt, and it sure as hell ain't one of mine."

I scoffed, trying to move away from him, but he cupped my cheek into one of his large, rough hands. "You've got somebody's love stink all over you. You've been with another man, and you've been with him tonight. Who is he?"

His fingers moved to hold my chin as I played my little game with him. "He's Superman. He flew out the window when he heard you coming 'cause you scared him so bad."

He chuckled darkly at my remark as I backed away from him, smiling playfully. "You think I have no feelings at all."

We stood face-to-face, staring each other down. I could sense that pain was coming to me, a punishment for my stubborness toward him. "If you're gonna slug me, just go ahead and get it over with, you sick bastard."

"There you go again, lying about me right in front of my friends. I have never hit a woman in my life." As I cast my gaze to the floor, he smacked me hard in the jaw. I fell, trying to catch myself against the kitchen counter. During the attempt, my arm caught on the knife holder, sending me and many knives falling to the floor.

Jackie Boy's thugs were laughing, congragulating him in showing me some "discipline". Laying on my bare knees, I glared at him, shaking my trembling fist at the idiots who were trashing my home.

"You goddamn bastard…you goddamn coward…"

"Baby, we're all here to have a good time. I gotta take a leak." He walked over me, heading toward the bathroom.

I turned to him, feeling confident again despite the red line of dark blood flowing from the corner of my lip to my chin. "Wish you had dropped by earlier, Jackie Boy, then you could've met my boyfriend. Could've seen what a _real_ man looks like."

Taking out a cigarette, he turned to face me. "There you go, after my nuts again. But I forgive you, because I'm a generous guy." He stalked off into the bathroom.

One solitary tear rolled down my cheek, mixing with my black mascara. The thug sitting near me spoke, his slimy voice making me feel uneasy. "He really is generous, but that temper of his… You never should've picked on him like you did. But my temper, you don't have to worry about."

I couldn't believe this. He was making a move on me, the nerve of that asshole! Reaching for something of defense, I grabbed one of the knives lying near me, pointing the sharp blade at the sleazebag.

"Shut up and keep your hands to yourself or I'll cut your little pecker off." Smartly, the man backed away, mumbling sarcastically that I'd told him off.

I slowly stood up, pointing the knife at the thugs with one hand. My other one clutched at a rag to quell my bleeding lip.

Then, Jackie Boy stumbled out of the bathroom, his black hair dripping wet. His eyes were wild with rage and confusion as he look ed at his "pack".

"Troops, get outta here. No question, dammit, no questions. NOW!" I raised the blade of my knife to point it at him in case he tried anything on me. Instead, he fled out of the apartment as I gasped in relief.

Running to my window, I saw Jack's car speeding down the street. I leaned out to see Dwight standing on the building ledge, completely calm. Exhileration flowed through me as the wind from a passing helicopter blew my hair around my face. Gazing up at Dwight, I saw him return my gesture.

"Dwight, what in the devil did you do to him?"

"I just gave him a taste of his own medicine. I don't think he'll be bothering you again. How's your jaw?"

Feeling slightly smug, I responded half-jokingly. "I've been slapped around worse. Dwight, he was from awhile back, before you showed up again with that new face of yours. It was only because I felt sorry for him, and it was only _once_. I've done some dumb things."

Dwight gazed down at me again. "Seeing as how I'm one of those dumb things, I can't give you too hard a time on that, Shellie. But this guy, he's a menace. He might kill somebody if I don't stop him. I'll call you later."

Before I knew what was happening, he leapt from the ledge, and I tried to call out for him to stop. "No, don't go! He's a cop!"

He didn't hear me due to the flying copter overhead, so my cry was drowned out even from my own ears. I shook my head in disbelief as I saw him driving away after Jackie Boy in his car.

Dwight was my clandestine paramour, a mysterious vigilante…

_Damn it, Dwight, damn it. You fool. You damned fool. _


End file.
